''Vigna trilobata'', the three-lobe-leaf cowpea or jungle mat bean, is a regenerating annual (though occasionally

perennial In horticulture, the term perennial ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the year") is used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. It has thus been defined as a plant that lives more than 2 years. The term is also ...

)

herb Herbs are a widely distributed and widespread group of plants, excluding vegetables, with savory or aromatic properties that are used for flavoring and garnishing food, for medicinal purposes, or for fragrances. Culinary use typically distingu ...

found in

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

Burma Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and ha ...

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

and the

Malay archipelago The Malay Archipelago is the archipelago between Mainland Southeast Asia and Australia, and is also called Insulindia or the Indo-Australian Archipelago. The name was taken from the 19th-century European concept of a Malay race, later based ...

Description

''Vigna trilobata'' is an annual or perennial legume. It has reddish stems,

glabrous Glabrousness () is the technical term for a lack of hair, down, setae, trichomes, or other such covering. A glabrous surface may be a natural characteristic of all or part of a plant or animal, or be due to loss because of a physical condition, ...

or rarely pubescent, which are prostrate and trailing (rarely weakly twining) to . The

leaves A leaf (: leaves) is a principal appendage of the stem of a vascular plant, usually borne laterally above ground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leaves, stem, ...

are trifoliolate, on petioles long, with leaflets

ovate Ovate may refer to: * Ovate (egg-shaped) leaves, tepals, or other botanical parts *Ovate, a type of prehistoric stone hand axe * Ovates, one of three ranks of membership in the Welsh Gorsedd * Vates or ovate, a term for ancient Celtic bards ...

in outline that are long and wide. The leaves are also glabrous to sub-glabrous and usually shiny. The

stipule In botany, a stipule is an outgrowth typically borne on both sides (sometimes on just one side) of the base of a leafstalk (the petiole (botany), petiole). They are primarily found among dicots and rare among monocots. Stipules are considered part ...

s are

peltate The following terms are used to describe leaf plant morphology, morphology in the description and taxonomy (biology), taxonomy of plants. Leaves may be simple (that is, the leaf blade or 'lamina' is undivided) or compound (that is, the leaf blade ...

, sometimes spurred, and are ovate, long. The

inflorescence In botany, an inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a plant's Plant stem, stem that is composed of a main branch or a system of branches. An inflorescence is categorized on the basis of the arrangement of flowers on a mai ...

is a few-flowered

raceme A raceme () or racemoid is an unbranched, indeterminate growth, indeterminate type of inflorescence bearing flowers having short floral stalks along the shoots that bear the flowers. The oldest flowers grow close to the base and new flowers are ...

, with the peduncle being long, the pedicels long, and the calyx long and glabrous, with minute teeth. The corolla is yellow and 5–7 mm long. The pods are cylindrical, long and wide, from glabrous to sparingly pubescent with short adpressed hairs, and are black when ripe.

Habitat and ecology

''Vigna trilobata'' is mostly found on well-drained, alkaline, dark, cracking clay soils, but also on sandy and loamy soils of similar reaction and can rarely be found on poorly drained soils. One of its major features is its strong resistance to drought, though the seeds shatter in frost. It is also moderately tolerant of salinity. Under well-watered conditions, flowering and seed set is continuous but sparse. However, under moisture stress, plants respond with more dense flowering, far greater seed production and a reduction in vegetative growth. The annual rainfall at areas where ''Vigna trilobata'' grows ranges from . The species is native to a largely tropical area extending from 24ºN in India to 9ºS in Indonesia, and from near sea level to greater than above sea level, mostly equating to average annual temperatures around . It is tolerant of regular or constant heavy grazing, but not of infrequent heavy grazing when a bulk of foliage is rapidly removed.

Uses

''Vigna trilobata'' is cultivated in India, Pakistan, and Sudan for short-term pasturage. It is valued highly as it is very tolerant of grazing and is very palatable, even being a human food alternative. However, it tends to have a very low yield.Gowda, C.L.L., Ramakrishna, A., Rupela, O.P. and Wani, S.P. (eds) (2001) Legumes in Rice-based Cropping Systems in Tropical Asia Constraints and Opportunities. International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, Patancheru 502 324, Andhra Pradesh, India

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15239151 trilobata